Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Tourism Malaysia today signed a global partnership agreement to boost inbound tourism to Malaysia by leveraging the airline’s global passenger network.

Under the agreement, Etihad
Airways and Tourism Malaysia will put into effect a range of
joint marketing activities targeting Malaysia’s leading inbound visitor markets
– the UK, US, Europe (Germany, France and Italy), and the Middle East region
(UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait). Research by
Tourism Malaysia revealed in 2014 there were more than 1.2 million visits from
these key markets, a 10 per cent increase compared to 2013.

Signing the agreement
at the Etihad Airways-Alitalia joint pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 were Madam Chong Yoke Har, Deputy Director General (Planning) of
Tourism Malaysia, and Andrew Ward, Vice President Marketing of Etihad Airways. For
two weeks, Tourism Malaysia will participate in the airline’s pavilion and showcase
its travel packages and destinations to attendees through multimedia videos,
traditional food sampling and Batik painting.

Mr Ward said: “This
partnership underlines the long-standing links between Etihad Airways and Malaysia,
and will help to create even greater opportunities to increase the growing
number of tourists and business travellers flying to the country with us.

“Malaysia is one of
our top destinations, and Etihad Airways has carried more than one million
passengers to and from the country since 2007, offering travellers from all
around the world the chance to enjoy the many attractions of this beautiful
country.”

From promoting the cosmopolitan
capital of Kuala Lumpur to the exotic islands of Langkawi and Penang to the
stunning Johor Bahru and island of Borneo – Sabah, the campaign will focus on multimedia
marketing and familiarisation trips for travel trade and media from around the
world to Malaysia.

Etihad Airways
marketing messages and Malaysia’s ‘Years of Festivals’ campaign will be
maximised throughout the partnership and the airline will also benefit from an
enhanced presence on Tourism Malaysia’s traditional and digital platforms.

Chong Yoke Har, Deputy Director General (Planning) of Tourism
Malaysia, said that Etihad Airways had demonstrated a strong and growing
commitment to the Malaysian market since it first commenced services in 2007.

“Now with the new agreement, we can work together on robust
tactical campaigns to make Malaysia the top-of-mind destination among Etihad
Airways’ extensive customer base. This agreement is an important step towards Malaysia
achieving its strategic goal of earning RM168 billion from the targeted 36
million tourist arrivals by 2020,” Mrs Yoke Har said.

Etihad
Airways currently flies twice daily between Abu Dhabi and Kuala Lumpur, and offers
flights to other regions in Malaysia through its codeshare partner Malaysia
Airlines.